Wednesday, April 1, 2020
The Rev. Anne Williamson
The Collect
Almighty God our heavenly Father, renew in us the gifts of your mercy; increase our faith, strengthen our hope, enlighten our understanding, widen our charity, and make us ready to serve you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Reading
John 8:31–42
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.”
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.” They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”
The Reflection
Jesus said...., “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
I wonder what Jesus meant when he spoke about knowing the truth that would make us free...what truth would that be? Is it the truth about who Jesus is, or possibly the truth about who we are as disciples of Jesus? He describes disciples as those who ‘continue in his word’, who follow his way, which is the way of truth. Later in John’s Gospel Jesus will describe himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life. In the reading there is this conversation about being children, descendants, and Jesus speaks of God as a parent. The reading resonates with a reflection in my Lent book, You are the Beloved, a compilation of Henri Nouwen’s writings. In an except from his book ‘Finding My Way Home’ there is a reflection entitled ‘The Fundamental Truth of Your Identity’. This truth is one I have struggled with all my life, to believe that I am a beloved daughter of God. Nouwen’s words are a great encouragement:
Jesus came to share his identity with you and to tell you that you are the Beloved Sons and Beloved Daughters of God...In Scripture, God says “I have loved you with an everlasting love”. This is a very fundamental truth of your identity. This is who you are whether you feel it or not. You belong to God from eternity to eternity. Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say “I love you, too”.
Question
What do you need to be freed from, or freed to?